Brooke Cheney, a firearms shooting and safety school owner from Harwinton, brought her 10-year-old daughter, Nadia, to the Capitol Wednesday to hear Malloy’s speech on Feb. 7, 2018.

Brooke Cheney, a firearms shooting and safety school owner from Harwinton, brought her 10-year-old daughter, Nadia, to the Capitol Wednesday to hear Malloy’s speech on Feb. 7, 2018.

Photo: Dan Haar/Hearst Connecticut Media

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Governor Dannel P. Malloy delivers the annual State of the State address during the opening session of the state Legislature at the Capitol in Hartford on Wednesday.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy delivers the annual State of the State address during the opening session of the state Legislature at the Capitol in Hartford on Wednesday.

Photo: Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Governor Dannel P. Malloy holds granddaughter Grace Elizabeth Malloy, 4 months, following his annual State of the State address during the opening session of the state legislature at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, February 7, 2018. less

Governor Dannel P. Malloy holds granddaughter Grace Elizabeth Malloy, 4 months, following his annual State of the State address during the opening session of the state legislature at the Capitol in Hartford, ... more

Photo: Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Governor Dannel P. Malloy delivers the annual State of the State address during the opening session of the state legislature at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, February 7, 2018.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy delivers the annual State of the State address during the opening session of the state legislature at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, February 7, 2018.

Photo: Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman gets emotional while introducing Gov. Dannel Malloy for the last time prior to Malloy's State of the State address inside the House chamber of the State Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018. less

Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman gets emotional while introducing Gov. Dannel Malloy for the last time prior to Malloy's State of the State address inside the House chamber of the State Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on ... more

Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Governor Dannel P. Malloy delivers the annual State of the State address during the opening session of the state legislature at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, February 7, 2018.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy delivers the annual State of the State address during the opening session of the state legislature at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, February 7, 2018.

Photo: Brian A. Pounds, Hearst Connecticut Media

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Democrat Reps. clap during Gov. Dannel Malloy's State of the State address inside the House chamber of the State Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018.

Democrat Reps. clap during Gov. Dannel Malloy's State of the State address inside the House chamber of the State Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018.

Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Rep. Robyn Porter, D- New Haven, loudly cheers during Gov. Dannel Malloy's State of the State address inside the House chamber of the State Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018.

Rep. Robyn Porter, D- New Haven, loudly cheers during Gov. Dannel Malloy's State of the State address inside the House chamber of the State Capitol in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018.

Photo: Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Dan Haar: Malloy’s fairness focus broadens the economy debate

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A large group of Dreamers, undocumented student immigrants, gathered in Hartford right before Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s speech on social investment to open the legislative session.

To their chagrin, Malloy only mentioned the raging DACA issue in passing. But in a sense, he showed himself to be very much a dreamer.

The governor’s dream: That Connecticut can act like a complete state in 2018, his last year in office — not just a broken ledger book, which is pretty much all we’ve been for at least the last year.

In 3,976 words over 37 minutes, the governor didn’t mention the word “economy” once, nor “taxes.” What he did talk about was the panoply of issues that matter to people — health care access, clean energy, equal pay for women, reproductive rights, violence prevention, the minimum wage and, to strong applause, sexual harassment.

The question is whether addressing those hot-button topics — making the state a better place, a fairer place, as Malloy called it — help the Connecticut economy? Can addressing housing access, for example, actually improve the business climate in a way that doesn’t send the state’s budget shortfalls further into the red?

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Democrats said yes, it’s called investment in people. Republicans showed skepticism that it’s taking our eye off the ball.

That’s the heart of the debate that’s defining how to fix Connecticut this year in the Legislature and most especially in the November elections.

“Certainly some of the issues that the governor brought up today are things that I would be supportive of at the very least,” said Rep. Themis Klarides, R-Derby, the House Minority leader. “For example, pay equity, we passed it out of this chamber overwhemingly.”

The problem, Klarides said, was not what Malloy said. The problem was that he didn’t talk about the economy.

“This is a state that is drowning in debt. In bond debt, in taxes, in budget deficits, in structural problems. ... People in the state, I’m not diminishing anything he brought up, they care about, are they going to keep their jobs, they care about, can they afford to retire here? Can they afford to die here? Can their children ... afford to buy a house here?”

Malloy missed the chance to tie his Connecticut fairness agenda to the economy in a direct way. But Democrats, who unfurled a similar agenda at the Capitol on Tuesday — even as they distance themselves from the unpopular governor in preparation for their re-election campaigns — are doing it for him.

It won’t be an easy sell with a restive taxpayer base. Up in the gallery, Brooke Cheney, a Harwinton resident, listened to Malloy alongside her 10-year-old daughter, Nadia.

“I just know lots of friends have left the state, friends who’ve owned businesses,” Cheney said. “The economy is not great.”

A guest of Sen. Henri Martin, R-Bristol, she’s no fan of Malloy’s, as the owner of a firearms training business, A Great Start Shooting School. She had a hard time thinking of parts of Malloy’s social agenda she supported enthusiastically — certainly not more gun-control — but then she turned to reducing homelessness, which Malloy stressed.

“That actually addresses our society as a whole,” Cheney said. “For me, violence is about social issues, not the pieces and parts of a firearm.”

Nadia, a self-styled libertarian on a snow day from 4th grade, piped in: “Too many laws.”

The Cheneys show what a Rubik’s cube Malloy and lawmakers face with interlocking issues and one “800-pound gorilla,” as Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, a GOP candidate for governor, put it Wednesday — the ailing state budget and economy.

“I sat around waiting for the punch line,” Lauretti said of the speech. “There are a lot of ideas on giving things to people. How are we going to pay for it?”

“I saw it as advancing the idea of investment,” McCarthy Vahey said. As for investing in the state’s economy by paying off debt, and in people through laws that make the state operate more equitably, “They both pay dividends.”

“To some extent I agree with what you’re saying,” Lauretti responded, “but ... if people think we can solve all their problems that would be a miscarriage of justice.”

“I believe in building bridges,” McCarthy Vahey said.

“You have to have your house in order. If you don’t, then you can’t help anybody,” Lauretti said.

With a smile, McCarthy Vahey called it a chicken-and-egg problem.

And by then, the Capitol was nearly empty as lawmakers rushed to beat the sleet.

Issues pile up. The Dreamers — Connecticut Students for a Dream — issued a statement saying the state must do more for them and their parents threatened with deportation. And on the budget, the real work starts Thursday, as leaders from both parties sit down to work on a deal.